Pandemic Dogma, Revisited
A refreshing piece by students contrasting the mission of universities—the search for truth via critical thinking—with the level of dogmatism prevalent in the Covid 19 response.
“The more troubling story of the pandemic — and one that we must acknowledge — is the way that society steamrolled over this uncertainty and enforced adherence to a single, majority view. Particularly for us, as students of a university that has truth in its motto, this turn to dogmatism above critical thinking should be unacceptable…. Regardless of your view on who is right and who is wrong, this was a dark period of discourse in this country, one that blatantly turned away from truth-seeking.”
As an example, they write, “It’s now evident that the vaccines pose legitimate areas of investigation. There’s a lively debate about whether mRNA-based coronavirus vaccines increase the — albeit rare — risk of heart inflammation, particularly for young males.”
Note: Harvard University still requires the original series of the Covid vaccine (yet NOT the polio vaccine) for incoming students (yet NOT faculty and staff) despite evidence of heart inflammation risk, non-authorized use of the original series of the vaccine, and accepted knowledge that Covid vaccines do NOT prevent transmission. Among the top US colleges, Harvard is an outlier.
